Problems with my Quails' Feet

SmithsCoop41

Chirping
Sep 29, 2023
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Hey Y'all,

Last night I seen that there is something bad going on with various of my quail, with their feet and legs. I have attached picture for reference as to what exactly the problem looks like. Kind of like bloody blisters? I thought for a minute it might be bad case of scaly leg mites? Some are worse than others, with some appearing that their toes/toenails are gone. 😢 When I looked it up on google, Quail pox is looking like what it may be? Quail pox as it turns out, is caused by mosquitoes bites, that infects the birds, and since their feet are the part of their bodies that are exposed the most as far as non-feathered area, that's what I'm thinking it could be. The quail start pecking on their feet in attempts to relieve the irritation caused by the mosquito bites, which causes sores, infection, etc. While I was reading and researching about it, it says that it's not really curable, but you can take measures in preventing and trying to keep it at bay. Preventative measures such as not letting water stand on your property (where mosquitoes love to breed), not housing them on wire-floored coops/brooders (the mosquitoes bite them from underneath the bottom of the cage wire), perimeter treatments for mosquitoes, etc. Any help would greatly be appreciated. We are going into our second year quail-keeping/raising, and we don't want to have to cull our whole flock and start over, especially since it's taken us some time to get things running, and let's face it, we have put ALOT of money into getting things up and going. No negative comments please, because I am that crazy lady that tries to spend time with her babies every day and take care of them, probably way more time than some folks do, but sometimes days are crazy busy and we miss things. My quail coop has chicken wire at the front part of it, so it's open access so-to-speak for small insects. I just want to do what's best for them, and like I said we have a significant amount of funds tied up in them, so to have to cull all or most would not only hurt are hearts, but hurt our wallet too. Hey, don't judge, we didn't start our quail flock for a hobby. Just being honest.


Also want to add: I also read that Honey has good healing properties, for treating wound issues like this, especially "wet" wounds such as this where ones are bleeding some. The honey sticks to it better than other medicines. Has anybody tried honey on wounds? It did say the honey needs to be organic because the honey in the USA today, unless it says "Organic" alot of the antibacterial components of the honey has been degraded so much that the healing effects are dramatically reduced.

Smith's Fluffy Butts Moma🐓
quail feet issue.jpg
 
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Poor things!
How are they doing?

You have several with legs/toes like this? Any chance they suffered frostbite or you have mice/rodents that could have bitten/chewed on the feet.

While raw or organic honey can be used on wounds, I would be hesitant to use it on the feet/legs just because it's sticky and perhaps may attract unwanted flying pests.

I'd swab/clean the feet with diluted Chlorhexidine or Povidone Iodine, then apply triple antibiotic ointment. Keep them on clean, dry bedding - easier said than done, Quail are messy LOL

Do you notice any lesions on the body or face too or is it just the feet?

@007Sean @Nabiki any insight into Quail Pox?
 
I have never seen this in my birds. It could be avianpox? If you can afford a vet visit, I'd highly recommend it, tests can be done and a definite diagnosis made and a plan for treatment. Since avianpox really isn't curable, antibiotics don't help unless there are secondary infections.

I would clean the wounds, apply blue kote or maybe even pine tar to keep the quail from pecking at their feet or other quail pecking at the feet/toes. An antibiotic cream might keep the wounds from getting further infection.
 
Poor things!
How are they doing?

You have several with legs/toes like this? Any chance they suffered frostbite or you have mice/rodents that could have bitten/chewed on the feet.

While raw or organic honey can be used on wounds, I would be hesitant to use it on the feet/legs just because it's sticky and perhaps may attract unwanted flying pests.

I'd swab/clean the feet with diluted Chlorhexidine or Povidone Iodine, then apply triple antibiotic ointment. Keep them on clean, dry bedding - easier said than done, Quail are messy LOL

Do you notice any lesions on the body or face too or is it just the feet?

@007Sean @Nabiki any insight into Quail Pox?
I did look over some of their bodies, not all of them, but I didn't notice any wounds. Just on their feet.
 

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